Dad Entry #41

I had a visitor this morning. Meg-Pie hopped into bed with me at about 6:15. She jibber-jabbered a little and situated herself with blankets and ‘pets’ (her medley of stuffed animals) next to me. The thought of this simple moment makes my heart swell. Yes, her sweet voice, like an angel’s, her cute little self, well, like my own little heart-warmer. She was tranquil, rested, happy. Which, some days, is a Megan mood-set that seems more rare than a Cubs World Series. I was sleepy, and she was talking softly, so I don’t remember anything she said except, “Daddy, are we going to Minnesota today?”

I got teary-eyed at Michael’s first tee-ball game. There, I said it. Why? Maybe because if you added up all the hours I’ve spent on a diamond, well, it would be many weeks, or months. To see my son playing was, I don’t know, some kind of surreal circle-of-life experience or something. And he hit the ball well. And he looked excited to do it, to step up there and rip it. In the field he did okay, especially when he endeavored to pick and fill his glove with grass. But he’s having fun, and at this age there is nothing else. You can work with 5 and 6-year-olds on the very basics, but let’s be real. He’s a kindergartner. Signals and squeeze plays, the infield fly rule, throwing sliders with finger pressure... we’ll start all that next year. I think right now he prefers Pokemon, Bionicles, Legos, playing ‘kung-fu’ and ‘hide-and-seek’ with me and Megs. We do those things mostly.

Michael mentions his penis a lot these days. In the bath tub he’ll say, “Megan kicked my penis and that is really terrible for my penis.” Of course I agree and oversee appropriate precautionary measures like instructing him to turn around so when Megan submerges to rinse her hair, she doesn’t kick his penis. When wrestling, he'll remark, “It would really hurt if my penis got stomped.” Again, I nod agreement, but try not to make a big deal out of his comment. Of course, he’s giggling and I don’t want to throw gas on the fire. But now Megan is catching on; yesterday she told me her puppy has a penis.